I have always loved to cook. I remember as a child I had a kid’s cookery book with cartoon pictures of curly red-haired children creating culinary masterpieces. I cooked everything in it from peppermint creams (which I always made with blue food colouring for reasons that remain a mystery) to mashed potato (I would probably have dyed this blue had I been allowed), from chocolate crispies to pigs in blankets. It should be noted that I have also always loved to eat – and one of the great pleasures of cooking and baking is cookie dough and cake batter! 
(in cooking mode)
I couldn’t honestly tell you at what point I decided to start experimenting with vegan food. I’d been vegetarian on and off for years by then and lactose intolerant to boot so I guess it was a logical step in some ways. I’d also spent many years not looking after myself very well, eating junk in the middle of the night and surviving on coffee – even vegetarians can be pretty unhealthy!
Everyone always sees the vegan diet as rather limiting. “What do you eat?” they ask. Well tons of things actually. These days there are so many vegan alternatives. Fifteen years ago you could get pretty foul tasting soya milk from health food shops and that was about it. Now I have a vast array of dairy and egg free food to choose from; sausage rolls and mayonnaise, sour cream and ice cream. And while I’m not going to pretend that you can’t taste the difference, they don’t taste half bad. Apart from vegan cheese – that’s pretty horrible. The only nice tasting non-dairy cheese I’ve ever eaten came from a supermarket in Hobart which I think may have been called Eastlands (Tasmanian readers please feel free to correct me if I’m wrong). I have never seen it anywhere else in the world.
Far from constricting me, veganism opened up a whole new realm of culinary creativity. Learning to bake without eggs, discovering nutritional yeast (which is the nearest thing you’ll get to parmesan and makes a great “cheese” sauce), sampling the many variations on milk alternatives: rice milk (foul), almond milk (delicious), chocolate flavoured soy milk (I could quite happily die drinking this ambrosia) and “veganizing” all my favourite recipes.
And then I met Himself. A man who will not be veganized!
I got a query from a reader the other week asking me how you maintain a vegan diet when you live with an omnivore. Well the answer, in my experience is, like everything else in any relationship, compromise.
I have never been one to try and enforce my beliefs on others, so that’s where that compromise started to kick in. Over time Himself and I agreed on how things would work for us. During the week we are vegetarians, eggs may play a part in the week and Himself will have cheese and milk. At the weekends we will occasionally have fish and Himself will invariably cook himself bacon or sausages!
The best trick, I’ve found, is not to tell your omnivore partner what you are cooking. Let them think it’s some amazing surprise and they usually enjoy it. The first time I gave Himself tempeh I cooked it with sweet potatoes and spices and he didn’t even notice it was something he hadn’t had before!
What we are both passionate about is where we source our food from. Everything is as locally sourced as possible and it is all free-range and organic. Our eggs for example come from a farm of such opulent luxury that the hens have a practically palatial existence. I kid you not.
All of this said I do strongly believe that in the West we eat far too much meat and far too many animal bi-products. We expect it as a daily right rather than a treat. Even Himself agrees with that. And so dear reader I still bake without eggs, I still cook vegan at least 5 days a week and I never ever drink milk. Just as we must compromise in our relationships to co-exist with each other peacefully, I think we must start to compromise in our diets to co-exist with the rest of the planet peacefully. Start your meal planning with fruits, vegetables and grains as the main food source and work up from there. See where it takes you! I will keep updating the Recipe Page with more vegan goodies for you.
(Vaguely related, for those of you who have asked, the Cupcake Page is coming soon. Basically I am on a search for the world’s best vegan cupcake recipe. When I have found it I am going to get my own TV show and take over the world. A kind of Vegan Masterchef for the sweet of tooth if you will 
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I am intending to do post over the next week or so about using dairy and egg replacers in ordinary cooking and baking so if there are any particular things you would like to veganize drop me a comment or an email dear reader!
My first cookbook was a Henry’s Cat cookbook. It showed me how to bake a chocolate cake with chocolate fingers making it look like a hedgehog. Nom!
I feel I need to point out that I tried vegetarianism for about 2 years. We never really saw eye to eye. That said, in the five years since passed, the quality of veggie food has improved massively. So I generally don’t mind.
Quorn FTW!
All your readers should try Quorn Chicken Strips. I dare them to say they’re not delish!
I’m vegetarian, and I love cooking and LOVE experiementing with vegan recipes (just cooked up some vegan banana muffins, in fact!). Egg-free baking is always troublesome, as I don’t use egg replacements and never plan enough ahead to buy apple sauce or equivalent squishy ingredients. However, a few times when I’ve simply left egg out of the recipe, it has worked quite well! (obviously not doable in sponge cake or pavlova!)
One thing I’d love to try is vegan brownies – ideas for a recipe would be appreciated!
As for the compromise situation, my boyfriend is also an omnivore, but since we’ve been together he’s become so excited about all things wholesome, and loves pulses, grains and all the other foreign things I produce in my kitchen frenzies. At first he’d bring ham along to add to his pasta, for example, but now he’s a great supporter of the humble chick pea and its wonder. It’s been amazing re-evaluating everything I’ve taken for granted for so long, and I know I’m lucky that he’s such a willing recipient of my food! However, we don’t live together, so I’m sure there is some real compromise to come!
And thanks for the hip advice by the way, fingers crossed it’ll contribute to a speedy recovery!
Very good post. I am glad you and Mr Omnivore found a good solution
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I tried to become totally vegetarian many years back and had this unfortunate side-effect of dreaming about steaks and smelling bacon where none was cooking. I suspect I wasn’t eating a very balanced vegetarian diet!!
Totally agree that we westerners eat too much meat, from both a health and environmental POV. I now eat red meat and chicken just twice a week.
My son used to be allergic to dairy and eggs (now it’s just eggs) so I learnt to cook a lot of vegan food. I really enjoy soya milk and rice dream and egg-less cakes. I have never tasted a good vegan cheese though.
Thanks for this great post! You’ve inspired me to be more creative in my approach to introducing more vegan and vegetarian meals into our diet..although my Mr Omnivore seems to have a very advanced lentil detection system, and I swear he once had a life threatening experience with beans because he can barely have them in the house without verging on mental breakdown. Over the years I’ve come to realise that the man I love and live with doesn’t compromise easily but its meant that I’ve done more than my fair share of the compromising in the relationship (that’s probably just my perspective) – but its time for that to change
Will keep you posted xox
I’ve had a similar experience. B pretty much eats anything I put in front of him, and is always surprised when I say, “Hey, you just ate tofu!”
Lovely! Compromise in a relationship is everything.
I have been vegetarian for more than 10 years but it is only in the last few that I have learned to cook anything that can satisfy a guest and not leave them craving the main course!! In part this is thanks to a fantastic vegetarian and vegan cookbook called 100 Meatless Mains (or something) which is an amazing resource.
Can’t wait to see your recipies!
This is so inspirational you’ve almost convinced me to give it a try! I particularly love your level-headed compromise skills – I’d say you both have a real winner to love!
Great post! I am enjoying my vegetarian lifestyle and while veganism isn’t the right choice for me right now, I’d say 80% of my diet is vegan, and I think I enjoy cooking more now than I did when I ate meat, surprisingly. As you say, the dairy-free stuff you get doesn’t taste the same as the real thing, but a lot of it is certainly ok! It’s all about forming new habits and making new choices really.
Looking forward to your recipes!
I have found dairy-free baking to be pretty easy to do. It seems to be the eggs that I have a difficult time with. I’ve been trying for ages for a good vegan chocolate chip cookie recipe and I can get the taste spot-on but the texture is awful. I end up with great tasting cookie dough and hockey pucks once they are out of the oven. It’s so frustrating! So, any ideas about good egg subs I would be delighted to see!
I am by no means vegan, but I don’t handle dairy very well and DO appreciate a good vegan meal, so I try to compromise with my omnivore husband a lot. I think we have a good balance now. Things are definitely easier than they once were.